Method and apparatus for casting a vote from home on elections

ABSTRACT

This invention provides a system that includes a plurality of voting PC, which allow the voters to cast a vote from home, office, public places or precinct without losing the secrecy, by casting a vote using Personal Voting Codes (PVC) and a voter Personal Identification Number (PIN) and an electronic ballot that store and read the vote in accordance with some access codes. The system further includes a plurality of results PCs, which tabulates the content of completed ballots with identical Party&#39;s Access Codes (PAC) in a manner that maintains the Voter&#39;s Identity (VI), PIN and PVC of the voters associated with the particular ballots, confidential. The system further include a plurality of PC with the PAC and VI to be removing; in a manner that only electronic ballots with identical PAC and VI will be deleted, this will facilitates the challenge of ineligible votes and the correction of erroneous votes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to electronic devices forelections. More specifically, this invention relates to an apparatus andmethod of controlling the local, State or National election process bythe use of an electronic device or electronic ballot.

[0002] The USA Election 2000 tells us all we need to realize that a newsolution is required. The personnel, time and the cost involved in countand manual recounts of votes are an issue to be resolved. The actualsystems not allow casting a vote from home, office or public placeswithout losing the secrecy of the vote. Thus, it is desirable to have amethod of elections that allows casting a vote from home, office, publicplaces and/or precinct without losing neither the secrecy nor thesecurity of the vote and to count votes in less time and with less costthat the conventional way.

[0003] Voting systems in prior art not have been designed using anelectronic device as the voting ballot. See:

[0004] Kilian, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,051 (Secure receipt-freeelectronic voting);

[0005] Challener, et al., U.S. Pat. No 6,081,793 (Method and system forsecure computer moderated voting);

[0006] Peralto, U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,399 (Computerized voting system);

[0007] Sarner, et al., U.S. Pat. No 5,666,765 (Suitcase voting boothwith access for handicapped persons);

[0008] Chumbley, U.S. Pat. No 5,610,383 (Device for collecting votingdata);

[0009] Davis III, et al., U.S. Pat. No 5,583,329 (Direct recordingelectronic voting machine and voting process);

[0010] Graft III, U.S. Pat. No 5,278,753 (Electronic voting system).

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] It is an object of the present invention to allow casting a votefrom home, office, public places and/or precinct without losing thesecrecy of the vote.

[0012] It is an object of the present invention to show a method ofcontrolling the local, State or National election process by the use ofan electronic device or electronic ballot.

[0013] It is an object of the present invention to remove the vote of aninvalid voter without compromise the secrecy of the election, in amanner that facilitates the challenge of ineligible votes and thecorrection of erroneous votes.

[0014] It is an object of the present invention to simplify thecomplexity of the election system hardware using personal computers andelectronic ballot.

[0015] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method ofread and write an electronic ballot using an electromagnetic field.

[0016] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method ofpowered the electronic ballot by using the electromagnetic field firstpulse.

[0017] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method ofpowered the electronic ballot by using the electromagnetic field pulses.

[0018] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide amethod of erase a ballot in any event of tampering with the ballot.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019]FIG. 1 illustrates Personal Computer and an electronic ballot.

[0020]FIG. 2 illustrates an electronic ballot apparatus and two internalblock components.

[0021]FIG. 3 illustrates the internal circuits of the electronic ballot.

[0022]FIG. 4 illustrates the circuit to power the electronic ballot.

[0023]FIG. 5 illustrates the circuit to communicate the electronicballot with the personal computer.

[0024]FIG. 6 illustrates the block diagram of the personal computerinterface with the electronic ballot.

[0025]FIG. 7 illustrates the nonvolatile memory and control of theelectronic ballot.

[0026]FIG. 8 illustrates the personal computer screen that allow Votersto cast a vote in presence of third parties without been intimidated toloose the secrecy of their vote.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0027] According to the present invention, a method and system isprovided for conducting elections using an electronic device as thevoting ballot. The system allows paper type ballots to be utilized atthe precincts if desire. Pluralities of Personal Computers (PC) areutilized to perform all the functions required in order to conduct anelection in accordance with this invention.

[0028] Voters can use any PC to cast a vote in presence of third partieswithout been intimidated to loose the secrecy of their vote. Voterconnect the electronic ballot (e-ballot) to a PC, then the PC showVoter's Identity (VI) (may include fingerprints and DNA information)previously stored on the e-ballot, then voter enter a PersonalIdentification Number (PIN) an using one of the Personal Voting Codes(PVC) know only by the voter and previously stored on the e-ballot, thevoter cast a vote as follow: the PC assign a number to each candidatename or picture on a consecutive bases, starting with a fix or randomnumber, then the voter can increase or decrease the start number untilthe PVC match the candidate name or picture to be choose. In the eventthat more than one candidate must be choose for that office, a differentPVC must be use for each candidate in order to keep the secrecy of thePVC previously use. (PVC may consist of a single digit or character)Then the PC transmits to the e-ballot the PIN and the numbers associatesto all candidates enter by the voter. Then the e-ballot store a mark onthe candidate that match one of the PVC previously stored on thee-ballot, only if the PIN transmitted by the PC match the PIN previouslystored on the e-ballot, fingerprints or DNA can be part of thecomparison process as well as time and date to be use. A place totransport DNA or a fingerprint sample can be including on the e-ballotfor further verification of the voter identity.

[0029] In order to count votes using a PC, a representative of eachparty must enter the same access code use to validate the e-ballotsbefore each election. This party access codes grouped with all of theother parties will be called Party's Access Codes (PAC) hereafter. Afterthe PC get the PAC, each time a e-ballot is connected (manually or withan automatic feeder), the PC transmit to the e-ballot the PAC, only ifthe PAC transmitted by the PC matches the one stored on the e-ballot,the e-ballot respond with the marks on the candidates chosen. (Thee-ballot may delete its memory after received few invalid PAC's). Thenthe PC must accumulate and stored the votes; results may be show afterthe PAC is reenter in order to keep the secrecy of the votes.

[0030] In order to participate on the elections the voter must pass theVoter's Identity (VI) authentication process in front of a judge orelection representative, after that, the voter enter in secrecy a thePersonal Identification Number (PIN) and the Personal Voting Codes(PVC), then the PC transmits the VI, PIN and PVC to any e-ballot, thenthe e-ballot store VI, PIN, PVC and reset the non-volatile memory. Thee-ballot will be place on a safety box and may be organized by zip code+4 at the elections office.

[0031] In preparation for elections the party's representatives mustvalidate the ballots. Using a PC party's representatives enter the PACgenerated for that particular election, then enter the update List ofValid Voters (LVV), then connect e-ballots one by one, (manually or withan automatic feeder) then the PC transmit a command to read thee-ballot, then the e-ballot transmit the VI if the VI of the e-ballotmatch one of LVV, the PC transmit to the e-ballot the PAC and theinformation needed for the coming election, if not the PC transmit adelete command to the e-ballot, the e-ballot execute the command or savethe information, then the PC print a label with the voter name andaddress to be use by the elections office to send (by hand, mail etc.)the e-ballot to the voter along with a return envelope, that voter willuse after vote to return the e-ballot to the correct place.

[0032] In order to remove the vote of an invalid voter withoutcompromise the secrecy of the election, in a manner that facilitates thechallenge of ineligible votes and the correction of erroneous votes.Using a PC party's representatives enter the same access code (PAC) useto validate the e-ballots before each election, then enter the List ofInvalid Voters (LIV), then connect e-ballots one by one, (manually orwith an automatic feeder) then the PC transmit the PAC to the e-ballot,then the e-ballot transmit the VI, if the VI of the e-ballot match oneof LIV, the PC transmit a delete command to the e-ballot, then e-ballotexecute the command.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] Referring to FIG. 1, a personal computer 1B and an electronicballot 1A are illustrated. The personal computer 1B refers to allPersonal Computers (PC) utilized to perform all the functions requiredin order to conduct an election in accordance with this invention.

[0034] The personal computer 1B communicate with the electronic ballot1A by any means (optical, radio frequency, electric current, electricvoltage, magnetic field, etc.) the prefer means is a magnetic field andwill focus only on that for description purposes. The e-ballot preferredembodiment is a specific semiconductor design with a magnetic interface,but with some limitations can be accommodate on a smart card or on microcontrollers available on the market and interface with the PC by meansknow.

[0035] Referring to FIG. 2 an electronic ballot 1A is illustrated; acoil 2A receive or transmit signals from and to the outside of theballot 1A. Once the link is established, information bits can flow fromand to the outside of the ballot 1A. A block diagram 2B contain thememory, power supply and control circuits needed to perform all thefunctions of the electronic ballot 1A.

[0036] Referring to FIG. 3 an internal parts of the electronic ballot 1Aare illustrated; a coil 2A receive or transmit signals from and to theoutside of the ballot 1A. A power parasite circuit 3A capture the energyof the electric pulses of the coil 2A to supply the voltage and currentneeded to operate the non-volatile memory and control circuit's 3B andthe input output port 3C.

[0037] Referring to FIG. 4 an internal parts of the electronic ballot 1Aare illustrated; a coil 2A receive a signals from the outside of theballot 1A. A power parasite circuit 3A capture the energy on thecapacitor 4B of the electric pulses of the coil 2A the diode 4A allowthe charge and prevent the coil to discharge the capacitor 4B.

[0038] Referring to FIG. 5 an internal parts of the electronic ballot 1Aare illustrated; a coil 2A receive a signals from the outside of theballot 1A and activate the input portion of the circuit 3C to generate adigital signal RX using circuit 5B. The output portion of the circuit 3Ccan convert a digital signal TX using a transistor 5A into a magneticpulse using the same coil 2A.

[0039] Referring to FIG. 6 an internal parts of the electronic PCinterface 1B are illustrated; a coil 2A receive or transmit signals fromor to the outside of the PC 6A using a similar circuit 3C.

[0040] Referring to FIG. 7 the Nonvolatile Memory (NVM) part 3B of theelectronic ballot 1A is illustrated in more detail; a digital serialsignal RX trigger the time circuit 7F with the end of the first bit. Theinput register 7A load all subsequent bits timed by the circuit 7F.After the end of the serial message the circuit 7F enable the comparator7C to allow or restrict the information to get in or out of thenonvolatile memory 7D depending on the memory function control circuit7E with respect to the message received. Additionally the comparator 7Cdiscard any message corrupted. Additionally the comparator 7C and thememory function and control circuit 7E can take other factors as: clockand/or date from the circuit 7I and/or DNA and/or fingerprints fromcircuit 7H. A circuit 7G generate additional bits of information to betransmitted that allow the outside computer to verify that the messageis not corrupted. The output register 7H serialize the message to betransmitted on de line TX. The nonvolatile memory 7D may contain theParty's Access Codes (PAC), the Voter's Identity (VI), the voterpersonal identification number (PIN), few personal voting codes (PVC),fingerprints data, DNA data and the space for mark the selection ofcandidates. The comparator 7C allow casting a vote only if PIN,fingerprints data or DNA data matches the one in the nonvolatile memoryand the votes that match one of the PVC will be selected. The comparator7C allow the outside to know the votes only if PAC matches the one inthe nonvolatile memory. The circuit 7B and/or the comparator 7C candelete the nonvolatile memory if electronically or fiscally tamperingattack is detected. A place to transport a DNA and/or fingerprintssample from the voter to the election office is show on the box 7K.

[0041] Referring to FIG. 8 illustrates the personal computer 1B touchscreen that allow Voters to cast a vote by touching the screen (or byselecting with mouse and/or keyboard) in presence of third partieswithout been intimidated to loose the secrecy of their vote. The PC 1Bassign a number 8B and 8C to each candidate name or picture 8A on aconsecutive bases, starting with a fix or random number, then the votercan increase or decrease the start number 8B or 8C by touching (or byselecting with mouse and/or keyboard) 8D or 8E or 8F or 8G until the PVCmatch the candidate name or picture to be choose. In the event that morethan one candidate must be choose for that office, a different PVC mustbe use for each candidate in order to keep the secrecy of the PVCpreviously use (PVC may consist of a single digit or character).

[0042] Although the invention has been shown and described with respectto exemplary embodiments thereof, various other changes, omissions andadditions in form and/or detail thereof may be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:
 1. An electronic ballot to read and write data.
 2. A method ofcasting a vote on elections using an electronic ballot.
 3. A computerinterface that utilize magnetic fields to communicate data.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus is a smart card.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the data is communicated to and from theapparatus using magnetic field.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein thedata is communicated to and from the apparatus using electric signals.7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the data is communicated to and fromthe apparatus using radio frequency signals.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1wherein the data is communicated to and from the apparatus using opticalsignals.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the data is communicated toand from the apparatus using audible signals.
 10. The apparatus of claim1 wherein the data is s tore on a nonvolatile memory or an EEPROM(electrically erasable programmable read only memory).
 11. The apparatusof claim 1 wherein the power is supply by a battery.
 12. The apparatusof claim 1 wherein the power is supply from a magnetic field.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the data includes fingerprint and/or DNAinformation.
 14. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the data includesdates.
 15. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus includes areal time clock.
 16. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatusinclude a circuit to detect tampering attacks and take some actions. 17.The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus include a circuit to readthe fingerprints of the user.
 18. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein theapparatus include a circuit to read the DNA of the user.
 19. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus include a place to transportDNA sample.
 20. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus include aplace to transport a fingerprint.